Strange Links, Beautiful Links
by EleKat
Summary: AU. When Melinda May meets Phil Coulson she starts to wonder if there is something missing in her life. She has three beautiful children and a job that she doesn't hate, but she has never had a relationship that's stayed. Phil Coulson has two kids and just moved and is trying to get settled in his new town.
1. Chapter 1

**This story was inspired by reading _Subtract the Distance _by its-amagicalplace. Go check out their story, it's brilliant!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvels Agents of Shield or any of the characters in this story besides OCs that appear, or anything that was created previously.**

Melinda didn't know how she did it. Having a job and juggling being a single parent. Although the fact that two thirds of her kids were either preteens or actual teens was nice.

Her job wasn't exactly hard either, she got to do things she liked everyday with people who chose to be there, not people who were forced to be there.

The _Playground Leisure Centre _was where she worked. Melinda knew the owners, her good friend Victoria's parents. She had gotten a job after getting out of school with her training for Yoga instructing and tai-chi instructing.

She loved those things and was happy she could do it, even if it meant staying in the same place where she had grown up.

It wasn't that bad though, she got into the gym and pool for free which was always nice.

When she was younger, Melinda had always sworn that she would get out of that place. That she wouldn't live there forever. It was only a temporary stop on her journey of the world. It was a lie though, just like people lied to themselves all the time. She wasn't out of there, she could never be out of there.

She lied, she had been gone once. Not too far away, just in the city. The huge, magnificent city. She'd tried to live there once, when her oldest daughter was only seven and her youngest not even born, it didn't work out though.

So, Melinda lived in the town of Fanvel. It wasn't insanely small, but it wasn't huge. It was a place that people wanted their kids to grow up.

Melinda never imagined herself living there for the rest of her life, and yet it was happening.

* * *

><p>Melinda had just finished with her class that was before lunch, and was headed for the staff rooms.<p>

The center was large but comfortable.

Melinda's studio was on the second (and top) floor with floor to ceiling windows that revealed part of the pool below. She liked it because it was calming, and some of the people that came to be in her classes had children in the pool below so they could watch them.

Leaving her studio and heading towards the staffroom, she looked over and saw some parents at the balcony, sitting in chairs and chatting over coffee, tea and muffins.

"… Annie is having such a hard time at school,"

"Does she still have that mean teacher?"

"The one that doesn't let her use her cellphone? Of course!"

Melinda rolled her eyes at the conversation the parents had. Of course their kids weren't allowed to use their phones in the school… letting them use them in school wouldn't help them learn anything. The opposite actually.

"… Doesn't the school know google will _help _the students?"

She pushed open the door to the staff room before she interfered in the conversation.

Inside the staffroom sat one of Melinda's best friends, Maria.

Maria was the swimming teacher for the younger kids. She taught from level 1-10 of the swimming. On different occasions of course, right now she was mostly with the earliest levels.

Although Maria was a partier, and loved getting drunk, she and Melinda got along great. Most said it was because opposites attracted. That was a silly notion, Melinda thought, because they weren't friends because of opposites. In fact, they became friends in collage before Melinda had kids. She had been like Maria, now she was calm.

"Bad class?" Maria asked as she looked up from her list of names for her newest class. It was the beginning of September, meaning new classes were starting alongside schools.

School actually started the next day, but that didn't stop people from signing their kids up to Monday afternoon classes.

Melinda was glad none of her classes involved kids. They would be too hyperactive, and even though she had her own kids, she didn't want to have to deal with other peoples kids.

"No, annoying parents out on the balcony. They think google will make their kids smarter," Maria rolled her eyes. It was a constant talk between them, whether it was good or not. Melinda was firmly for it was bad, Maria was slightly relented. She didn't have kids though.

"You never know, the internet can surprise you," Maria said. "Just last week I read that you can charge your cellphone in the microwave,"

Melinda stared at her friend. "Please tell me you do not actually believe that,"

After a few beats Maria burst out laughing and Melinda rolled her eyes and sighed. It was funny but she wasn't about to admit that, that would just make Maria smug. A smug Maria was an annoying Maria.

Just then the doors opened again to reveal their other co-worker and friend, Natasha.

Natasha was a self-defence and kick boxing teacher. Although all three of them knew how to fight, Natasha had the most control so she taught it. That was fine with Melinda, she liked the calmness of her classes.

"So, Maria, never told me that Phillip was in town," Natasha said as she sat down in the last seat at the table and grabbed a water bottle from the pile on the floor. The rest of the place may have been clean, but the staffroom was below par.

It wasn't that they didn't care… actually it was. They were perfectly fine, and made sure to make it to their standards. Anyways, the Hands didn't care how the room was as long as the rest of the place was spotless.

"He moved here, why do you care?" Maria asked. It was known that Natasha was not-so-secretly dating Maria's step-brother, who was younger by a year, Clint.

"He enrolled his son, Lance, into my self-defence class," Natasha stated with a smirk. It seemed to be something between the two of them though, as Melinda stared between the two with a quirked eyebrow. She was expecting an explanation about why this was apparently 'odd'.

"Lance is obsessed with two things: video games and soccer," Maria explained quickly before turning back to Natasha and adding, "don't expect much. He'll probably just drop out,"

* * *

><p>Although Maria and Melinda were best friends, she had known Natasha longer.<p>

Natasha was a two years younger, but had skipped a year. She'd come from Russia at the age of six, and grew up in Seattle.

Maria grew up in Seattle and was neighbors with Natasha. Her older brother was Phillip "Phil" Coulson. Someone that Melinda had only heard stories of and never actually met. Her step-brother, Clint, was a year younger and had been dating Natasha since they were in freshman year. A cliché.

You'd always heard of the couple that had been dating since freshman year of high school then got married. That was the case between Natasha and Clint. Well, except for the marriage part. Natasha didn't believe in marriage.

Her argument was that it was just a piece of paper. If you really loved someone, why did you need to go through some large, elaborate ceremony just to prove it?

Maria was the opposite, and had been dating her fiancé since they'd met in their last years of college. Steve was a physical therapist and at one time had dreamed of serving in the war. He'd decided against it though and helped people coming back from war with injuries get better.

Clint was an archer, and had been shooting arrows since before he could walk. Melinda didn't believe it though, he was all talk.

He was very good though, and owned his own archery range on the outside of town.

* * *

><p>Natasha shrugged. A kid dropping out wasn't her problem, she still got paid.<p>

She had an apartment above her studio, with stairs in the back. It was nice and quiet, Melinda had been up there a couple times.

When Melinda finished her veggie wrap she threw out the plastic wrap and walked out of the room to see if anyone had shown up downstairs for her next class.

She had three classes a day. One at nine, one at eleven, and one at one.

The secretary, Pepper, was sitting at her desk putting a new kid in the system. There was a father with two kids, and Melinda could tell that the older of the two did not want to be there. Not at all.

"Hey, Pep, is anyone for yoga here yet?" Melinda asked. Pepper looked up from the computer, shook her head, and then looked back down.

The man stood there awkwardly for a second before deciding to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Phil," he said and held out his hand.

"Melinda May," his grip was firm. He was wearing a leather jacket and a dark blue captain America shirt. His jeans were light wash, and he had two kids.

The kids didn't look like him at all.

The younger one had curly hair and green eyes. He was wearing a shirt that said _never trust an atom they make up everything_. His shorts went to his knees and his socks went above his shoes. They were yellow with little monkeys on them.

The other one was wearing a blue shirt and a black hoodie with the sleeves pushed up. He was wearing jeans, and obviously did not want to be there.

"Melinda, is Natasha upstairs?" Pepper asked as she turned towards her.

"Yes, want me to go get her?"

"No I will, stay here please," Pepper said as she turned to Phil. "Just one moment,"

She hurried up the stairs and Melinda shook her head in amusement.

"So, do you work here?" Phil asked as he looked at her. Melinda looked into his eyes and saw that they were a wonderful shade of blue. Kind of like the ocean or the sky. It was in in between blue, the kind you could stare into for days debating the shade.

"Yes, I'm the yoga instructor and I have classes for tai-chi," Melinda explained.

"Now I know where to go if I ever want to learn," Phil said with a wink. Melinda smiled slightly and nodded.

The eldest boy seemed even more unimpressed. There were footsteps behind her and Melinda turned around to see Pepper walking down the stairs with not just Natasha, but also Maria.

The three girls walked over, Pepper taking her spot back behind the desk.

"Phil!" Maria said with a large grin as she embraced the man.

Melinda was shocked, this handsome man with Maria's older brother? She had masked it well though, since nobody was looking at her oddly.

Natasha walked over to the eldest of the two. "I'm your instructor, Miss Romanoff. You must be Lance," she said to him.

"Hi," Lance said with a British accent.

"I'm Fitz!" the younger boy said. He had a Scottish accent and Melinda was shocked, she never knew Maria's nephews weren't from America.

"His actual name is Leopold," Lance said as he looked over at his younger, and shorter, brother.

"That name is stupid, I like Fitz. It's my middle name," Fitz said with a grin. Melinda nodded in amusement at the siblings banter.

"Well, Lance, how about you go get changed and then meet me in the studio which is over there," Natasha pointed over to it. "There should be some other boys and girls here soon."

He nodded, a frown still on his face, before walking away.

"I'll be back in two hours!" Phil said with a grin at his son who looked very unimpressed.

"We're going to the science center, Auntie Maria," Fitz explained to his Aunt. "We're going to learn about atoms," Maria nodded with a large grin.

"Have fun," she said.

"Nice to meet you," Phil said again to Melinda.

"You too," she echoed as she watched him walk out. She wanted to know him.

* * *

><p>Melinda left work around four thirty, after her last class and clean up.<p>

Her house was only a ten minute drive away, and she could walk to work when she wanted to. She hadn't that day though, it had been raining in the morning.

She lived in a building that was over a quiet pub. There was about six steps and then the door to it. She lived on the second floor.

When she opened the door and walked in, she had to kick dolls and blocks out of the way with her foot.

Music could be heard from the living room only a few feet away, and walking forwards slightly she saw her eldest daughter laying upside down on the couch, her head hanging off of the seat and her feet up the back.

After kicking off her shoes she continued in to see her son on his laptop at the kitchen counter, and the door to her daughter's bedroom was open.

* * *

><p>Melinda had three kids. Her eldest son, Antoine, was fourteen. He liked playing sports, and of course working to make his bike better. He was always trying to make it better, as were his friends. He was also on the football team; and worked at the local Starbucks.<p>

She and her ex-husband, Andrew Garner, had adopted him when he was four months old. Melinda had fallen in love with him when she'd firs seen him and knew she wanted to adopt him right away.

Her eldest daughter was Skye, the biological daughter of her and her long-time boyfriend, who broke up with her when Skye was five.

The only downside was that Skye refused to pick up a book, she had an aversion to reading and hated it with a passion. Melinda had no clue why, and always tried to convince her to pick up one up. Skye was only eleven though, so she could grow out of that dislike.

Melinda's youngest daughter was Emilie. Emilie was three and never knew her father. It was because when he found out that Melinda was pregnant he had left her and disappeared.

Emilie didn't care though, which was nice because she didn't ask questions. She was curious though, and loved to play with her dolls.

The family lived in a small, three bedroom apartment which Melinda would have loved to leave but never did.

* * *

><p>"I'm home," Melinda announced her presence to her children. She was ignored by Skye though, who was entranced with whatever she was watching, upside down, on the television.<p>

"Hi Mom," was all Antoine said as he waved at her from his spot. "I have to work after school on Wednesday,"

Melinda nodded as she made her way to the girl's bedroom. Opening the door she saw the two sides of the room. One said was a disaster, with an unmade bed and clothes all over the floor. The other was quite a bit cleaner, with a messily made bed and only some things on the floor.

On the clean side sat her three year old, Emilie was playing with a doll on her side of the room.

"Hi baby," Melinda said as she walked carefully through the clothing and sat down on the little girl's bed.

"Mommy!" Emilie looked up and smiled. Thankfully, Emilie looked like a miniature copy of herself. Emilie was also obsessed with clean, making sure her side of the room (which was split with a piece of tape down the middle) was clean.

Emilie help up her Mulan doll that she had gotten last time she was at the Disney store in the city. "Mulan is not feeling well today," she stated.

"Oh no," Melinda said as she gently took the plush doll from the girl, setting it on the bed, and then standing up. "I think we should leave her in the quiet for a bit, don't you?"

Emilie nodded and stood up from the floor and grabbed her mom's hand.

Unlike her sister, Emilie never wore actual pants. She wore skirts and dresses, but she refused to wear jeans and leggings.

Melinda smiled as she walked her daughter to the kitchen and helped her plan what they were going to have for dinner.

* * *

><p>Melinda woke up the next morning and realized one thing: she needed to get the eldest two off to school.<p>

She was aware that Antoine was probably already awake, from the sounds she heard from the kitchen. And Emilie being awake wasn't going to be a problem, she always woke up early, but Skye would probably be a problem.

The girl hated mornings, and hated school even more. School was a place where she did not, under any circumstances, wanted to be. Melinda had no clue why, because Skye did have friends. It probably had to be due to the fact that she wasn't allowed to use her iPod at school. At all.

Melinda was aware that her daughter had a problem with being on electronics too much. Actually, it was more like an obsession with her IPod.

That was why Melinda refused to get Skye a cellphone. She would then become obsessed with that. Melinda did not need that in her life.

Sighing, she got out of bed and slipped out of her bedroom and into the bathroom. She had a quick shower, got dressed, and did her makeup in under ten minutes.

"Mommy, I want breakfast," was the first thing she heard when Melinda officially left her bedroom. This was not her usual morning routine but she had a feeling that someone messed with her alarm clock that did not go off… and of course summer hours had messed with her internal clock.

"I'll get it," Antoine said to Melinda as he grabbed Emilie's hand. "Want captain crunch?"

"Yes!"

Melinda rolled her eyes as she opened the door to the girl's room. She knew that Emilie would have lots of energy now, so she was glad that she'd be going to her mom's house.

"Skye, wake up," Melinda said as she walked into the room. Skye didn't wake up though, she stayed sound asleep. Rolling her eyes, the women walked over to the window and pulled open the drapes. She was glad that the girls had the window that faced the sun, because all of the light flooded in and onto her sleeping daughter.

"Mom nooo," Skye groaned.

"You have school today," Melinda stated as she stared down at her daughter before walking over to the clean side to get some clothes for Emilie to change into.

"All the more reason _not to go_," Skye stated in a sleepy tone as she pulled the covers over her head.

Melinda allowed her the one minute of peace as she finished grabbing an outfit for Emilie before walking over and yanking the sheets off of her daughter's bed.

"Up, now. I have no problem taking you to school in your pajamas," Skye groaned but slowly got up.

Melinda smirked at her triumph and left the room to see that Emilie had already finished her bowl of cereal.

"Tank you Antoine," Emilie said with a smile as she lifted her arms to Melinda. Melinda gently lifted her child up and brought her to her own bedroom to get her dressed.

"Grandmother will be here to take you to her house soon," Melinda said with a smile at her daughter. Emilie loved her grandmother and always wanted to be at her house.

Melinda's mother lived in out of town in the forest, a good half an hour to an hour drive. She took care of Emilie either at her own house, or at Melinda's during the week.

Her mother was a retired CIA agent. Melinda never knew why they lived in Fanvel but also never questioned it.

After getting her daughter dressed and her longish hair brushed, Melinda brought the girl out to see her mother already standing there talking to Antoine.

"Hello, Mother," Melinda said with a small smile.

"Qiaolian," Jing-Na May said as she greeted her daughter.

"Grandma!" Emilie said with a smile as she wiggled out of her mother's grasp and over to her grandmother. "Are we going to your house?" the little girl asked excitedly.

Emilie looked exactly like Melinda, except for her eyes. Her eyes were a dark blue, a colour that wasn't even her father's grey ones.

"Yes, we are," Jing-Na said to the girl and took her hand. Melinda grabbed a bag which held some of Emilie's stuff and tried to hand it to her mother who just waved it away. "I have stuff. She spends half her time at my house, Qiaolian,"

Melinda sighed and put the bag down before dropping to her knees beside her daughter.

"Be good for grandmother," Melinda said as she hugged the little girl and kissed her nose.

"Yes, Mommy," Emilie said with a giggle before escaping her mother's grasp and taking her grandmothers hand. "Come on, grandma. Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Phil Coulson woke up at six am from his annoying alarm going off. The red of the number glared brightly in the faded light that was coming through his window.<p>

He knew he needed to get ready for work, something that he didn't exactly want to go to. Then again, who ever actually wanted to go to work?

He showered and got dressed in a blue button up shirt and some jeans. He walked out into the living room to see one of his sons playing on his 3DS grumpily and his other eating cereal with a smile on his face. It was now six forty five.

Today Fitz shirt said _it's all fun and games till someone divides by zero_. Phil had rolled his eyes when he son requested it but complied. It wasn't as though it was inappropriate.

"Lance, get dressed," Phil said. School, for some reason, started at seven thirty. Phil hated it because it meant he had to get up early. It wasn't that he hated mornings, it was that he hated waking up at six in the morning.

He filled his mug up with coffee and the boys got their things together.

"I'm excited for science today," Fitz said with a grin as he pulled on his blue converse over his green banana socks. "I hope we get to use microscopes,"

Lance rolled his eyes as he pulled on his black skate shoes and grabbed his backpack. Lance also grabbed his soccer gear. It was new, they'd bought it when they went on a trip to the city.

The boys were apprehensive. They had just moved there from Portland and were worried they wouldn't make friends. Actually, Lance was worried he wouldn't make friends. Fitz didn't care if he did or not, as long as he had science. And his dad. His dad was pretty cool.

* * *

><p>After Phil went to University he had moved to Portland Oregon with his long-time girlfriend Audrey.<p>

He was a history and PE teacher while she was a concert cellist. He grew to love music because of her, and together they had adopted Lance and Fitz.

Years later, Audrey was gone and Phil was haunted by the city. Everywhere he went he heard her music. And even though it was beautiful, it hurt him.

So, he decided to move to Fanvel. His mom lived in neighboring New York City with his father so he had someone to stay with the boys when they wanted to see the city lights again.

In Fanvel lived his younger sister Maria, who was a swimming teacher at the leisure center, and his younger step-brother, Clint, who owned the archery range and archery club.

It was nice living around family, and nice to have a new start. Even if he only knew a few people.

* * *

><p>They got into Phil's black Chevrolet equinox. He turned on the news as they drove to the middle school first. Fitz got out, waved goodbye, and ran to the school. Lance was slower but followed his younger brother.<p>

Once Phil got to the school he walked to the office where he was told where his classrooms were.

He had his own office in the gym, which was nice. It was room 401. It was a nice size with a desk as long as the wall, which was good with Phil.

Phil's classroom was upstairs which was a pain but he'd get over it. It was a large classroom with thirty two student desks and his desk.

He'd be teaching grade eleven world history (twentieth century and above). Then he had two classes of physical education then a prep block.

The history class involved handing out books and telling them what to not to do in class. Such as write in the books. Or put their feet on the desks. Or throw their cellphones.

That happened.

He sighed and let them have the rest of the class to talk about what they'd done that summer. He knew the students needed to get it out of their system or the rest of the week would be hell. He didn't want hell.

Physical education wasn't that hard, he got the attendance done then sent them to run two laps around the outdoors field. After they'd done that, they played soccer for the rest of the day.

For Phil, this was an easy day.

His prep block was where he sat and while he was supposed to be making lesson plans, his mind wandered to the lady he'd met the previous day.

Melinda.

She was beautiful. Phil loved the sound of her voice and that small smile she gave his sons. She seemed wonderful.

He wondered if she had kids, a husband, there was no ring. He briefly wondered if he could take one of her classes if she had them on the weekends. That would be good, a way to get to know her without seeming weird.

Then he realized it, put the pieces together.

Maria had always talked about a Melinda from college. That must have been her!

As he thought about it, it made sense. The fact that the Melinda was short (about a head shorter than Maria), pretty (more like beautiful), and worked with her as a yoga instructor.

He'd have to ask her about this mysterious women.

* * *

><p>"Hello?"<p>

"Qiaolian, I am bringing Emilie to your work. One of my contacts just called in a favour,"

"_Mother_," Melinda couldn't finish though because the phone was hung up. She groaned in frustration but was glad that her next class was light. Just some middle aged women learning yoga. Middle aged women loved toddlers.

She needed to warn Pepper though.

Pepper loved kids, at least she said she did. Melinda knew though that Pepper was slightly scared of her daughter. For unknown reasons of course. It didn't make sense to Melinda, since Pepper wasn't scared of anything.

She guessed that even the bravest people had a weakness. Even it happened to be a three year old who was terrified of water and believed that she could reign over England one day.

Melinda quietly walked downstairs. Pepper was calling people and starting prep for December when the center was closed down for a month for maintenance. They were getting a water wall put in behind the desk along with a fountain in the court yard.

Melinda had no clue why, the Hands had money to spend and no idea what to do with it.

"Hey, Pep, my mother is bringing Emilie here. Bring her upstairs, okay?" Pepper nodded distractedly and Melinda laughed slightly as she walked back upstairs and to the staffroom where Natasha was throwing grapes into the air and catching them in her mouth.

"What took you so long?" Maria complained as Natasha got another grape in her mouth.

"My mother phoned, she is bringing Emilie in,"

"I was due to see my god daughter," said Natasha who, when Emilie was born, had said that she was the god mother and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Melinda at first had objected, since her other two children didn't have god parents, but finally relented when Natasha had said that Skye and Antoine at least had another parent whereas with a god mother, Emilie will have two too.

Melinda was about to speak again when the door opened and a small child ran in.

"Mommy!" Emilie cried as she ran to her mother with a large smile on her face. Pepper waved before leaving again to go back to her post. She didn't like to leave it, she was a workaholic.

"Hey baby," Melinda smiled a rare, large smile at her child and picked her up onto her lap to hug her.

"What about Auntie Tasha?" Natasha said in mock anger.

"Auntie!" Emilie yelled to make Natasha happy, and reached up for her aunt. "I miss you,"

"I missed you too!" Natasha said with a grin at the kid. Melinda knew that if anything happened to her, Natasha would snatch Emilie up like a flash. She would steal the child if she could and Melinda wouldn't kill her for it.

Melinda quickly got her next class schedule set up as Natasha distracted her daughter before standing up. She knew she needed to get this classes done so she could take her child home.

"So, I have a question for you Mrs. Single," Mrs. Single was a nickname that Maria had acquired for Melinda since she seemed to always end up single again. "Any new boyfriends you want to tell us about?"

"Nope," Melinda said as she gathered her stuff.

"What did you think of my brother yesterday? You seemed not to be able to take your eyes off of him…"

"Maria!" Melinda said as she felt a slight heat to her face.

"You could join the family too," Natasha said with a wink.

"Tasha!" Melinda shriek. The two girls laughed at their friend that was now red faced. "Come on, Emilie," Melinda grabbed her daughter from Natasha and left the room and glared at them slightly.

* * *

><p>"How was your first day of school?" Phil asked his kids over a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. The two kids were currently both playing with their food. Lance because he appeared anxious, while Fitz seemed excited.<p>

"Brilliant! We got to see the microscopes and learn different science things and we got told what we'd learn in math!" Fitz said with the excitement that only he could muster. His accent becoming thicker as the excitement increased. It was like when he talked about Monkey's, his favourite animal.

"That's good, Fitz," Phil said with a smile towards the eleven year old.

"Does that mean we can get a monkey?" the daily question. Without fail, Phil's answer was always the same.

"Nope," he said with a laugh as Fitz muttered _darn _under his breath. "How about for you, Lance?"

"It was fine," Lance muttered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

* * *

><p>"How was your day back?" Melinda asked as she served grilled cheese and ham sandwiches.<p>

"They still don't allow iPod in class. I thought middle school would!" Skye complained with a frown as she took a bite of her sandwich.

Melinda swallowed a laugh that threatened to burst forth. Her daughter really wanted those things to be allowed in class. She knew it would never be allowed though, too much chance of cheating.

"It's cool. High school is much bigger than middle school," Antoine said from his side of the table. Skye groaned from hers. "Don't worry, you'll have your friends,"

Skye nodded. She was glad she could keep her friends. Mostly just her best friend Jemma. They'd been friends since Jemma had moved there the year before. Best friends. BFFL, best friends for life. They'd even taken a blood oath, much to Jemma's apprehension and Skye's excitement. They'd sworn not to tell their parents.

Antoine's best friend, Mack, was Jemma's older step-brother. Jemma had moved to the states when their parents married and Skye had said it was the best thing that had ever happened. Ever. Well, besides the invention of electronics and google.

"I saw a bunny rabbit like bugs bunny!" Emilie said from her spot with a smile. Somehow, the child had gotten melted cheese all over her grinning face.

"Did it have a top hat?" Antoine asked his sister. Emilie frowned as she concentrated on her memory of this apparent bunny rabbit and Melinda laughed slightly.

"No,"

"I bet it was hiding it, maybe it went to see the white rabbit," Skye added. Emilie nodded her head vigorously.

Melinda sighed as she looked on at her little family. She loved it but sometimes felt like something was missing. And why did she feel like this missing piece had blue eyes?


	2. Chapter 2

**This story was inspired by reading _Subtract the Distance _by its-amagicalplace. Go check out their story, it's brilliant!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvels Agents of Shield or any of the characters in this story besides OCs that appear, or anything that was created previously.**

Friday was a good day. Friday meant that there was a weekend off that Melinda could spend with her children. Well, she would have been able to spend it with her children, except that Skye and Antoine were going away with their respective fathers.

It was only supposed to be Skye going this weekend to be with her father in the city. That had been planned for a while, even if Skye detested it because she did not want to be around her step-mom and older half siblings and younger step-siblings.

Antoine's father was a doctor who had just gotten called to go to California the weekend Antoine was originally supposed to go to his house. So, Antoine was going this weekend. Andrew lived in Fanvel, which was better than going all the way to the city.

"Mooommmm, don't make me goooo," Skye whined as she sat on her bed with her arms crossed. Melinda had noticed her daughter would not pack her things so she had to do it for her.

Skye did not like her father one bit. Something Melinda could understand, since she hated Skye's father too, but she always tried to make her have a good father-daughter relationship.

"Skye, he's your dad. He loves you," Melinda said as she zipped up the duffle bag and lightly tossed it towards the door. Maybe she'd clean her daughters mess while she was gone.

Skye rolled her eyes at her mom as she pulled out her IPod. Melinda sighed as her daughter went back into the world of 0 and 1s.

She walked out of the room to see Antoine and Emilie making a card tower on the living room floor in the midst of a mess of toys. She was really getting tired of these messes that the kids made. Why did kids have to make messes?

She watched as Emilie once again knocked down the tower but started again. That was the difference between her daughters, one always wanted to try again, the other just retreated.

There was a knock on the door and Melinda walked over and opened it to see her ex-boyfriend and Skye's father.

* * *

><p>After Melinda and Andrew divorced she'd moved to the city for a change from her home town. While there she met Calvin 'Cal' Zabo. He was medical researcher and always had to have everything his way.<p>

After Melinda had given birth to Skye, he wanted everything to be in his control. Like her not working and him bringing in all the money, which really wasn't much.

He also had another child, Daisy, who was older and didn't like having a little sister. Daisy had made it clear she wanted them out of her life, and so Melinda had made that happen. After a fight with Cal, she and he broke up and she left back to Fanvel.

* * *

><p>"Hello," Melinda said as she moved back to let him in. "Skye, your dads here!" she called.<p>

"Letting yourself go, Melinda," He said as he glanced around the room. Melinda had to admit, the place was a mess. It wasn't like she intended it to be a mess though.

"Says you, Calvin," she replied coolly as Skye slowly made her way out of the bedroom with a pained look on her face. Melinda walked over and hugged her eleven year old and whispered in her ear; "It's just the weekend, two nights. I believe in you,"

After saying goodbye, Skye left and Melinda started planning to clean the room. All she need was a distraction for Emilie.

Since her mother had gone off somewhere, Melinda had to put Emilie in daycare for the rest of the week which made some bad habits start to appear. Such as using the word _no _much more often than necessary.

Andrew said he'd text her when he was leaving his house so she could have everything ready for Antoine going. It wasn't as though her son was unprepared, because he had packed ages ago, she just needed to make sure that he didn't forgot anything.

The only problem was, she couldn't find her cellphone which should have been in the back pocket of her jeans. It wasn't though, which was slightly concerning since it was a very expensive piece of technology.

"Mom, are you okay?" Antoine asked as he looked over from the patch of floor he was sitting on. Melinda noticed that the carpet was starting to get dirty. Yet another thing to fix.

"Yes, just can't find my cellphone," Melinda said with a wave of her hand. She wasn't going to let him worry about it.

Antoine smiled slightly. Adults were always losing their phones. He looked back at the tower just as it fell again.

"Oops," Emilie said with a shrug of her shoulders before starting again.

Just then there was a knock and then the door opened revealing Andrew.

"Andrew!" Emilie yelled as she ran over.

* * *

><p>Fact: Although Andrew was not Emilie's father he was always there for the kid.<p>

He and Melinda had a mutual split and agreed to stay friends because it would be better for Antoine that way. He was a doctor at the hospital and often bought elaborate toys for the child.

Antoine was fine with it, he was good with sharing his father.

Emilie was fond of Andrew but was aware he wasn't her daddy. That was fine with her.

Melinda was glad for him, because she could count on him if she needed something. That was always good to have when you were a single mom with three kids.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Emilie!" Andrew said as he picked up the child and hugged her before setting her down on the ground. "Hey Mel," Andrew said with a smile as he walked in and shut the door.<p>

"Hi Andrew," Melinda said. "I know this place is a mess," she said.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Andrew said as he put his arms up in a surrender but was still smiling. Melinda rolled her eyes as Antoine walked from his room with his backpack and duffle bag. "Hey bud!" Andrew said.

As most sons would not want their fathers to call them _Bud _or _Buddy_, Antoine was actually fine with it. Melinda thought it had to do with the fact that he was possibly the best behaved and responsible teenager she'd ever met. Or maybe she was just being bias because he was her son.

"Hey dad," Antoine said with a smile as him and his father did the boy hug. The one where you shook hands, went together and patted the others back.

"You two hug weird," Emilie stated before walking back to the living room to work on her card towers. Andrew laughed before bidding Melinda goodbye and Antoine saying goodbye.

Melinda sighed and locked the door before turning towards her daughter.

"We have the apartment to ourselves this weekend. What do you want to do?"

* * *

><p>"Dad, can I go to my friend's house this weekend?" Fitz asked as he looked at his dad over his dinner. Fitz had made some friends, even though Phil had thought it would be hard for him. Not many people understood his love for science. Even less children did.<p>

Even in Portland, Fitz only had one friend.

"Of course," Phil said with a smile at his son. Fitz grinned. Lance sat on his side of the table glaring down at his food. "Lance, what's wrong?"

"How do I not have friends but the nerd does?" Lance complained.

"I resent that," Fitz said in annoyance but was ignored by his father and brother.

"Well, your attitude for one," Phil pointed out. "I bet tons of kids want to be your friend," he said optimistically.

"No, nobody wants to be. One girl is even being mean to me!" Lance complained.

"You know, when a girl picks on you it means she likes you?" Phil said to his son. Lance looked at him sceptically. What logic did that follow? When someone picks on you they don't like you, how could it make someone think they like them?

It was very twisted logic in the thirteen year olds opinion. Who would want to like someone back if said person picked on them all the time? Not Lance, that's for sure.

Of course, she was pretty… _No, snap out of it_!

"I highly doubt that," Lance said with a shake of his head. He wasn't going to fall for that. He'd seen it on TV. Besides, he didn't want to date her anyways.

"Don't trust your old man?" Phil asked with a grin at his son. Lance rolled his eyes and shrugged as he pushed his vegetables around the plate like the boy he was. "You know, there was a girl who used to bug me when I was in middle school and it turned out she liked me," he said.

"Was it mum?" Fitz asked with excitement and curiosity.

Phil smiled sadly. "No, no it wasn't," Fitz frowned in disappointment as he looked down at his food. "I know you guys miss her," Phil said.

Fitz nodded but Lance just shrugged. Really, he didn't miss his mom that much. He knew that her father must have though, and Lance also knew that Fitz did. It wasn't a secret that when he went onto his computer at night he was looking her up on YouTube.

Sometimes that happened though. Missing people that weren't coming back. You never missed something until it was gone, and so they'd taken her for granted before. Not anymore though.

* * *

><p>"Mommy wake up time," Melinda woke up on Saturday morning to the face of her three year old. Emilie didn't understand the concept of sleeping in, but when Melinda looked at the clock she was glad her child waited till nine to wake her.<p>

Emilie was still in her PJs (a Mulan nigh gown and owl slippers) and looking at Melinda with large eyes. "Can you give me my phone, Em?" Melinda asked as she started to slip into the world of the conscious. She was rubbing sleep from her eyes when Emilie came back to the bed side.

"It not fair,_" It's not there_ Emilie said with a shrug before trying to climb up onto the tall bed. Melinda lifted the child onto it. There was hardly a time when it was just her and the three year old in the house, it was oddly quiet.

Melinda cursed in her mind as she remembered that she couldn't find it yesterday either. "How about," she started and set her daughter on her lap facing her. "You have a bath, then I shower, and we go to the studio for a few minutes,"

Emilie seemed to think about this.

"No baf, but yes studio," Emilie said. Melinda shook her head as she picked up her daughter.

Emilie had an irrational fear of water. Drinking it was fine, a water park was even fine, but anything other than that she was not going for. At all. Melinda had no clue why, Emilie had never almost drowned and the only television she watched, if she watched any, was either princess movies or Winnie the Pooh.

"Yes, bath time," Melinda stated as she walked towards the bathroom with the squirming child.

* * *

><p>After being soaked, having a shower, and struggling to get a child dressed, Melinda and Emilie left the apartment.<p>

It was a sunny afternoon, and the summer heat was still present. After strapping Emilie into her stroller and putting the sun visor down onto it, and putting on her own pair of aviators.

The walk was calm and Melinda loved it. It was nice to be able to walk someone and not have to drive her car. "Mommy can we go to the park after?" Emilie asked.

"Yes," Melinda responded as they rounded the corner and were now only a few feet away from the stairs.

After helping Emilie out, she dragged the stroller up the stairs and let her child in the doors.

"Pepper!" Emilie cried as she ran up to the desk. Melinda smiled as Pepper, even though she had a slight fear of Emilie, greeted her with a smile.

Melinda at first didn't noticed the man in the waiting room as she set the stroller to the side and walked up to the desk.

"Did you happen to see my phone yesterday after I left?" Melinda asked as friend as Emilie headed over towards the waiting area to sit on a chair. Pepper shook her head.

"I can go check for you," Pepper offered. Melinda shook her head.

"I can go look, Em-" when she turned around Melinda was surprised to see Emilie talking to none other than Maria's brother. She smiled politely at him as she walked over to the area.

Melinda tried not to look at him because she didn't want to stare, staring was rude. She didn't want to come off as rude.

"Hi, Phil, right?" Melinda said.

"Yes, Hi. Melinda the yoga instructor?" he asked with a grin. Melinda nodded and saw that his son with the science shirts was the one with him at the moment. Except this time the shirt was a monkey.

Emilie was studying the shirt carefully. "Is it a monkey?" she asked in her voice as she pointed at his shirt. The boy nodded, Fitz, nodded. "I like it," she said.

"Sorry, this is Emilie," Melinda apologized as she caught her daughters hand.

"It's alright, we're just waiting for Fitz friend to come. They're going swimming together," Phil explained lightheartedly.

"Do you like swimming?" Fitz asked Emilie. The little girl shook her head as she looked up at her mom.

"She's scared of water," Melinda explained. "I'm sorry, I'm just here searching for something," Melinda apologized again. She wondered why she was saying sorry so much, usually she hardly ever did.

"I can watch her while you search if you want," Phil offered. Melinda was about to decline when Pepper came up behind her.

"That would be wonderful, thank you," Pepper said as she put her arm around Melinda's shoulders and guided her away. Melinda, being the shortest of her friends, had this happen often in high school. She wasn't expecting it then though, years after when she had kids. "Go upstairs, search for your phone. The man offered to take care of your _child_. Let him,"

Melinda rolled her eyes. Taking care of your child wasn't that scandalous, babysitters did that too. She did as Pepper advice though and went upstairs.

The yoga studio was only hears, so when she went inside she has to click the buttons for the lights.

Her phone wasn't anywhere in there though, but she found it when she went into the staff room and saw it sitting at the table.

"What are you doing here on your days off?" she turned to see Maria standing at the fridge pulling out her lunch.

"Looking for my phone," Melinda said as she held it up, and pressed the home button only to find that it was dead.

Maria studied her for a little bit. Melinda never usually worried about her cellphone. Maria had seen her friend leave it for a whole weekend before. Why now?

"Why are you worried about it? You don't usually," Maria asked. "Does it have to do with Skye and Antoine both being away at the same time?" Melinda didn't answer, just gave her friend a look as she turned around to leave the staff room. "It is!"

"Why would I be worried about that, they're with their fathers," Melinda said with a roll of her eyes.

* * *

><p>"I like monkey's too," Emilie said to Fitz as she looked at him. "I like panda's most, fough,"<p>

Fitz nodded as he studied the little girl. Although she couldn't pronounce words such as _though_ she seemed to be alright.

Her black hair was damp and her eyes a dark blue. She was wearing a blue dress with little purple dots all over it. She didn't seem to mind that she wasn't supposed to stare at people, as she started at him and his monkey t-shirt.

"How old are you, Emilie?" Phil asked the little girl. Emilie held up three fingers.

"Tree," she said in her young child voice. "I have two older siblings!" Emilie added and Fitz smiled at her. He had an older sibling, maybe one of her siblings would be his age!

He didn't get to ask though, become the women, Emilie's mom and his Aunt Maria's friend, walked back down the fancy stair case.

Fitz watched his father look at the women and he had a feeling that he had seen that look before but he couldn't place when it was. When would it have been?

"Thank you for watching her," she said with a smile at his dad. Fitz noticed that the two seemed not to be able to look away from each other either. Odd.

"No problem, find your phone?" Phil asked. Melinda nodded and Fitz watched as Emilie seemed to debate whether she actually wanted to go with her mom or not.

Just then his friend walked in, Jemma Simmons. Apparently she had just moved to Fanvel a year before he had. The two of them, along with her other friend, were all a little group. Jemma also loved science, which was nice. They talked about it together.

"Hey Jemma," Melinda said with a smile as she saw the young girl appear.

"Hello Miss May," Jemma said politely.

"Hey Jem!" Fitz said with a smile as he stood up. The two kids went towards the changing rooms. "Bye dad!"

"Have fun," Phil called after him. He'd already paid for the two of them to go in. He looked up at Melinda with a smile. "Would you, you know…" he was trying to find his words. "Want to go out for coffee with me?" he asked.

Melinda smiled at him and his geekyness. Today he was wearing a shirt with a S.H.I.E.L.D logo on it.

"Well, I have a three year old with me at the moment… would you like to come to the park with us?" Melinda asked him with a smile. Phil nodded and stood up. They both said goodbye to Pepper before walking out the doors to the center.

Once on the sidewalk, Melinda helped Emilie back into her stroller before they started off again. Emilie was looking curiously at Phil, to the point when she'd turn around in her stroller to look at the two adults.

When they got to the park, Melinda let Emilie go into the water park area as she and Phil went to a coffee truck, but was in sight of the three year old.

The two got their drinks (for Phil black coffee with a shot of expresso, and for Melinda Chai tea with milk) and went and found a bench in the shade.

Because of it being early September, the leaves had not started turning yet. They rustled slightly in the warm wind, and little flowers were adding colour to the green grass.

Melinda wasn't sure how Emilie was going through the water, she hated water parks. Emilie wasn't exactly like her though, no matter how much she wanted to believe the child was.

Neither adult said anything for the first ten minutes. "Emilie, come here please," Melinda called as she took a bottle of sun screen from the basket underneath the seat. When the child was there, Melinda started putting the lotion on her tan skin.

"No mommy," Emilie said as she tried to pull away.

"Nope," Melinda said simply as she finished rubbing the white liquid onto the child's skin. Emilie looked at her arm, which now had the shine of oil, and wrinkled her nose.

"I don't like it," she stated before turning on her heal and heading back into the water.

"Sorry if this is boring for you," Melinda said to Phil without looking at him. She watched her daughter play in the sun, laughing with another little boy.

"No, it's fine. I miss coming to the park, actually. My boys never want to go with their old man anymore," Phil said with a grin. Melinda chucked a bit, Phil was not old. "Emilie looks a lot like you," Phil added as an afterthought. "Except-"

"The eyes," Melinda finished for him. "I get that a lot," Phil paled slightly and looked panicked until Melinda gave him a small smiling, showing him that it was alright. It happened. "They're neither mine nor her fathers. I don't know where she gets them from,"

Phil nodded as he looked over to watch the little Chinese girl in the water, laughing with a little boy who had on a green shirt.

After about an hour, Melinda called Emilie back. Phil knew he was going to have to go back to the center soon to pick up Fitz and Jemma.

"Who was that, Emilie?" Melinda asked as she started to strap Emilie into the seat. Phil noticed that the child didn't seem to mind this. Lance and Fitz would have had fits when they were little. He wondered why Melinda got off to easily.

"That was Bruce. He's my friend, he goes to daycare," Emilie said. She sent an adorable smile up at the two of them. "Mommy I'm hungry. Can we go home and have snack?"

Melinda nodded as she put some more sunscreen on the child and stood up. She and Emilie walked Phil back to the center, and they stopped at the bottom of the steps.

"I had a lovely time," Melinda said with a smile. "We should do it again some other time, maybe your boys can come,"

Phil nodded. "I'd like that," he said with a smile. Phil wanted to hug her. Actually, he wanted to kiss her but that would be weird considering they've only known each other for not even a week, have seen each other twice, and there was a three year old present. Plus, he wasn't aware of how Melinda felt for him, if she felt for him.

So, he held out his hand. Melinda took it in her own. Her hand was soft, unlike his rough ones. Their hands held for longer than necessary, and when Melinda was walking away she smiled softly to herself.

Phil couldn't see the smile though, but he had one of his own as he walked into the grand building. He had to admit, although this building didn't look like much on the outside it was amazing on the inside.

He waved to Pepper as he went back to the waiting area. He knew Fitz, whom he told to be out of the pool with Jemma and here by time Lance's lesson was up, would follow the rules to a T.

So when Jemma and he walked out of the pool area, changed and dried with their things put away in their bags, Lance was just walking out of the studio.

The studio had its own change rooms, although most of the younger students came in their workout outfits already. Lance was one of them.

In his soccer shorts and running shoes he looked like a real athlete, not a boy who played videogames all day.

"Dad! It was so much fun!" Lance said with so much excitement that it surprised Phil. This he was not used to. Lance hated almost everything, and Phil was sure that he would turn into one of the beer drinking men when he was older.

"What did you learn?" Phil asked him.

"…stuff…" Lance said vaguely.

Fitz and Jemma were smiling too and laughing about something that Phil didn't understand.

* * *

><p>Sunday morning was full of cartoons for Melinda. Emilie insisted on watching them, so after putting on some age appropriate Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, Melinda started on cleaning the girls bedroom.<p>

Melinda was always surprised by the amount of mess in the room, even though she knew she shouldn't be. She wondered where Skye got her messiness from. Not from her, and Cal wasn't even _this _bad.

She started by putting all the dirty clothes that had been sitting on the floor in the laundry hamper, then putting the clean clothes that were on a chair in the dresser and closer.

After that she stripped the bed, remade the bed, and put everything in its place. Reapplied the splitting-the-room tape and tidied Emilie's side.

When she was putting clothing in the washing machine the door to the apartment opened. Melinda froze, who would be walking in? She thought the door was locked.

She walked swiftly into the room to see that it was only Natasha.

"You look so hostile, May," Natasha said with a smirk as she put down a bag and shrugged off her coat. Melinda rolled her eyes as the black leather jacket was tossed lazily onto the floor and the bag picked up and brought into the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Melinda asked curiously as she followed her red headed friend into the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Natasha mocked her friend as she put the bag on the counter and started unloading it. Unsalted chips, salsa, beer…

"Uh- I live here," Melinda responded as she started putting things into the fridge. "Mind telling me if you're having a party at my place? I have three kids,"

Natasha rolled her eyes as she pulled a KitKat out of the bag.

"Emilie, Auntie Tasha has a present for you," Natasha said in a sing song voice as she walked out of the room leaving Melinda to finish unpacking the bag. It wasn't even her bag!

Melinda rolled her eyes as she heard her daughter's excitement. When she walked into the living room she saw the two sharing the KitKat, Emilie sitting on Natasha's lap.

"Mommy!" Emilie said and held out a piece of sticky, melting chocolate.

"No thank you," Melinda said as she waved for her daughter to eat it. No way was she eating that. "So, why did you buy party food?"

It was Natasha's turn to roll her eyes at her friend. "Well, I took the liberty of inviting Maria, Steve, Clint, Tony and Pepper over. I also bought some soda for the kids. Thought we could order in Chinese food,"

Melinda gave her friend a look. "Chinese food. Along with chips and salsa? Seriously?"

"Multicultural?" Natasha shrugged her shoulders as Melinda reached over to the coffee table where she kept a case of sterol wipes, took one out and started to clean off her daughter's hands and face. "You need to lighten up. When do Antoine and Skye get back?"

Melinda had to think for a second. When did they get back, or the correct response, when should they.

Andrew was very good at getting Antoine there by two in the afternoon. Antoine would then proceed to do his homework, or if he didn't have any take Skye and Emilie out to see Jemma and Mack.

It seemed as though they'd be staying in today.

"Sometime this afternoon,"

* * *

><p>"Are all your friends girls?" Lance asked Fitz as the two sat on the couch playing Mario cart. Phil was sitting at the table, just off the living room, attempting to grade some of his students below-par work. The school system just wasn't how it used to be.<p>

He seemed this an odd question for Lance to ask Fitz, but knew the boys had to talk about something while playing an animated racing game with turtle shells.

"Are all your friends' imaginary?" Fitz resorted.

"Please, you're the one to talk," Lance said as he threw his brother a dirty look, and a red shell at him. "Just answer the question, mate,"

Fitz seemed to be thinking about this, and Phil know that meant he was wondering whether or not to lie about it. It seemed that he wasn't going to though by the look on his face.

"Yes, all my friends are girls," Fitz said. "But that is only because boys are incompetent of normal conversation!" He also liked to use large words.

Phil wanted to laugh at the conversation, or stop it before the boys started arguing, but his ex had always told him to just let them sort it out on their own.

He didn't know how well that'd work.

"What are their names?" was all Lance asked. This surprised Phil, he'd expected some teasing.

"Jemma-"

"Like as in Gem? Like a rock?" Lance asked suddenly.

"I… I don't know… It's spelt J-E-M-M-A." Fitz said happy with himself. "And Skye. I have two friends," he said with a grin.

Phil hadn't heard of this Skye girl yet, and put down his pen so he could listen better. At least his back was turned to them so they didn't know he was listening.

"Skye, as in Sky? As in "Oh no, there is something in the sky!"?" Fitz gave his brother a look.

"No, well yes but no. Spelt the same, pronounced the same, but as an _E_ at the end," Fitz explained. Lance nodded.

"You have two friends, and they're both girls," he said laughing.

"Two more friends than you," Fitz responded with a smirk that stopped the laughing instantly but was filled with his own.


End file.
